Automatic door opening or closing apparatus.



Patented July 22, I902.

J. S. JOHNSON.

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENING 0R CLOSING APPARATUS.

A iicazioh filed Oct. 17, 1901.

(No Mudel.)

INVENTOR ATTORNEY WITNESSES.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH S. JOHNSON,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENING OR CLOSING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 705,355, dated July 22, 1902.

Applioationfiladoctober17,lilo].- seralnmaose. (Nomodeld To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known thatI, JOSEPH s. JOHNSON, a,

citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of New York city, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Door Opening or Closing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of improvements in apparatus for automatically opening doors by the tread of one approaching the door and closing them by weights or springs, as here'- inafter described,reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of the body of a railroad-car, showing an elevation from the inside of the car of the doors of one end provided with automatic opening and closing'apparatus in accordance with myv invention, the said section being taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is avertical section on the line 1 1 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line3 3 of Fig. 1. V Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

The invention is designed chiefly for sliding doors, as a, and particularly such as aresuspended from overhead rails 19 by trolleywheels 0 and commonly used in railroad-cars and in other structures. The essential fea tures of the invention are a pair of rods 1), jointed together at one end d and at the other end pivoted to the doors, respectively, as at e, preferably in interior spaces of the doors, said rods constitutinga toggle-joint device and adapted to thrust the doors apart when the joint d is brought into line with the pivots e and to allow the doors to close when said joint d is shifted away from said line in either direction. In this case the arrangement-is such that said joint shifts downward'for the closing of the doors. For automatically shifting the said toggle-jointed rods to thrust the: doors open a cord fis connected at d and passes over guide-pulleys'g, h, and i to -a drumj,'1ocated under the floor, so as to be wound thereon when the drum is properly turned, for whicha cord or strap is is wound on a small axial stem lot the drum and connected with a bell-crank 'm as a means of multiplying the motion of the bell-crank, which is subject to the thrusts of pivoted treadles a each ,;.si de of the doors whenthese treadles are stepped on by persons passing through the doors. Over the doors spiral springs care provided for automatically closing them, and they also return thebell-crank m through the action of the toggle device, cord f, drum j, and astrap lcto the normal position, thus raising the pedals n preparatory for reopening the doors. Itis obvious that weights suitably suspended on pulleys may be used instead of springs for closing the doors, and where'only a single door-is to beoperated one ofthe rods Z) may be jointed to any fixed object.

Any suitable automatic latch device for holding the doors open may be employed when, as in the case of car-doors, many people pass out together, such latch to be released for'allowing' the doors'tobe closed by the .brakeman or other official.

What I claim asmy invention is- 1. The combination with'a sliding door, of a toggle-joint device for opening said door, foot-pedals and a bell-crank subject to the tread of persons passing-through the door, a motion-multiplying drum connected with said bell-crank, and a cord and guide -pulleys therefor, saidcord connecting said drum and the toggle-joint device for operating it, and means for automatically closing the door and resetting the pedals.

2. The combination with a pair of sliding doors, of a pair of toggle-joint rods respectively fulcrumed on the doors for opening them, foot-pedals and a bell-crank subject to the tread of persons passing through the doors, a motion-multiplying drum connected with the bell crank, a cord and guide-pulleys therefor,said cord connecting said drum and toggle-joint device for operating it, and means for'autom'atic'ally'closing the doors and resetting the pedals.

3. The combination with apair ofsliding doors,of a pair of toggle jointrods respectively fulcrumed on the doors within interior spaces of the upper portions of said doors for opening them, foot-pedals and a bell-cranksubject to the tread of persons passing through the doors, a motion-multiplying drum connected with the bell-crank, a cord and guide-pulleys therefor, said cord connecting said drum'and toggle-jointed arms for operating them, and means for automatically closing the doors and resetting the pedals, said means consisting of coiled springs located at the upper ends of the doors and suitably connected for closing them.

Signed at New York'city this 30th day of September, 1901.

JOSEPH S. JOHNSON. Witnesses:

A. P. THAYER, J. M. HOWARD. 

